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PM cancels uni visit on security issues

The prime minister has cancelled a planned university visit over security concerns posed by student protests.

Tony Abbott and Education Minister Christopher Pyne were due to visit a Geelong research facility at Deakin University on Wednesday but cancelled on advice from the Australian Federal Police.

Mr Pyne said the AFP expressed concerns about their safety and that of "innocent bystanders" as student protesters planned to march against higher education changes on the same day.

"So the prime minister made the decision ... that it would be wiser to not go and to create that tumult," Mr Pyne told ABC TV on Tuesday.

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He criticised protesters for complaining about having to contribute more to their own education and accused them of seeking to shut down democracy.

He said people should be free to express their opinions without being "assaulted and molested", as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and former federal Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella had been by protesters at Sydney and Melbourne universities over the week.